Dr. Christopher Strickland
I am an applied mathematician and Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with an adjunct appointment in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. I lead a research group that builds behavior-driven mathematical and computational models of collectives and individuals — spanning the dynamics of animal movement and aggregation in complex environments, the social and policy dynamics of disease and substance-use outbreaks in human populations, and the broader question of how individual behavior shapes population-scale phenomena.
My work combines mechanistic modeling, large-scale simulation, and careful mathematical analysis in close collaboration with ecologists, applied mathematicians, and quantitative scientists from related disciplines. I'm at my best leading and working with interdisciplinary teams — framing the right questions, translating between fields, and turning the complex specifics of a real-world problem into models that are rigorous, grounded in underlying science, and genuinely useful in application.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
Mathematical Modeling & Analysis
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Mechanistic modeling of behavioral and biological systems
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Dynamical systems: deterministic and stochastic ODEs, PDEs, and agent-based models
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Probabilistic modeling, Bayesian inference, and model selection
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Optimal control and sensitivity analysis
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Multiscale and network-based approaches to social and ecological interaction
Scientific Computing in Python
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Large-scale simulation and parameter exploration
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Open-source scientific software development (Planktos)
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Data visualization, analysis, and reproducible workflow design
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Efficient and parallel simulation on multi-core systems
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Graduate-level instruction in Python for the quantitative sciences
Research Leadership
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Principal Investigator of an active, interdisciplinary research lab
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Federal grant acquisition and management, e.g. NSF
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Mentoring of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers
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Cross-sector collaboration with national laboratories, federal agencies, and academic partners
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Peer-reviewed publications across mathematics, biology, and public health
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
In collaboration with Oak Ridge National Lab and the VA, we both develop and mathematically analyze population-level and individual-based models of the opioid epidemic based on location-specific data. These models help predict the epidemic's trajectory for a given community and quantify risk factors that will inform patient treatment decisions.
Introducing Planktos, the open-source, agent-based modeling software in Python targeted at 2D and 3D fluid environments with immersed structures. Agents in this modeling framework are relatively tiny organisms in sufficiently low densities that their effect on the surrounding fluid flow can be considered negligible. This library can be used for scientific exploration and quantification of collective and emergent behavior.
UPCOMING EVENTS
